AP2 · Agent Payments Protocol
Governance standards for agent payments — multi-rail.
AP2 is Google's governance specification for agent payments. It defines what every agent payment system should provide — audit trails, spending limits, verifiable settlement — without prescribing the rail. x402 is integrated as the stablecoin rail within AP2.
The four things AP2 actually delivers.
- Defines mandatory governance primitives for agent payments.
- Multi-rail by design — works with cards, stablecoins, PayPal, etc.
- Carries audit trail + verifiability requirements.
- Anchors a common policy vocabulary across providers.
The flow, end to end.
AP2 specifies
Audit trails, spending limits, verifiable payments.
Implementers comply
Stripe, Visa, x402 implement the AP2 surface.
Enterprises trust
AP2 compliance becomes the procurement checkbox.
AP2 is the highway code for robot shopping — stop at red lights, signal your turns, log your trips. xpay is a car that obeys every rule perfectly.
What AP2 ships, what it does not, and what bridges the gap.
Multi-rail spec, Google distribution, principle-level clarity.
Only a spec — no working implementation ships out of Google.
A working AP2-aligned control plane: audit trails (live), 6-dimensional spending limits (live), verifiable payments (ZK proofs in development).
AP2 compliance, today
xpay already implements AP2's core governance principles — audit trails, spending limits, verifiable settlement — across x402, MPP, and ACP rails.
Talk to us →AP2 compared.
AP2 vs x402
AP2 is governance; x402 is settlement. AP2 implementations frequently use x402 as the stablecoin rail.
AP2 vs TAP
TAP answers who the agent is. AP2 answers how the agent should pay. Complementary specs.